The invention relates to the digital music writing being a digital musical notation symbols input and sheet music typing tool. The invention is a keyboard specially dedicated for digital input of musical notation symbols. The keyboard is used for digital input of sheet music.
There are two main principles of sheet music digital input: the typing principle and the touch screen handwriting. This invention is a system of sheet music typing, that is why the problems of sheet music typing developments have been considered below.
Now in the field of sheet music digital input a number of problems have been identified, which are closely connected to each other, while this invention was targeted to solve these problems. The basic one is to make the input systems understandable as well as to make the actions required from users to input the musical notation symbols and generate sheet music obvious. The existing input systems which are providing appropriate input of sheet music (i.e. which allows aiming the targets of music writing closely to the full amount) are difficult for understanding and mastering, a user has to apply significant efforts to master such systems.
The efforts needed to master the musical notation input system are great first of all because it is not obvious which action exactly will lead to input of any given group of symbols and why it will happen. The system interface is complex having a multilevel structure. So, to find the required options the user has to study orientation in this structure. It is required to create the notation input tool with its operation principles as universal and obvious as those of the QWERTY keyboard for texts. Like QWERTY, which would not require any preliminary education for mastering being clear for anyone acquainted with musical notation. Besides, the existing input systems require employment of multiple devices (computer keyboard, mouse, midi-keyboard). At least, without using such additional devices, convenience of the systems would be decreased. It is required to create a self-sufficient tool operated with one device with no harm to the convenience of operation.
Also the problem of equal accessibility for various groups of notation symbols and music writing operations is quite urgent. In the existing input systems the groups of musical notation symbols are distributed between different levels of interface and the transition from one operation to another is quite difficult. These systems require compliance with the sequence of operations, while any violation of such sequence would trigger significant inconveniences. Essentially, various groups of symbols are presented in separate menus, so, in process of input the user has to switch between the menus. At the same time, some groups of symbols are more accessible than the others, some actions are performed easier than the others. It is required to create a system of input where all the groups of symbols and operations regardless of their character would be generally accessible with all the actions performed with equal easiness, while switching from one action to another one would not require any additional actions.
Unification of the input method for all the groups of symbols is regarded as the music notation input system's perfection factor. In the existing systems such unification is missing. It is not infrequent that not only different groups of symbols, but also the elements of the same symbol use different input principles. Thus, the most important problem of the musical notations input is the input of so called musical notes. Note is a symbol, designating two parameters of the musical sound at once—pitch and duration. In the existing systems input of these two parameters uses different methods to the extent that the elements of one note designating these two parameters are using different devices for input. The method where indication of the pitch level parameter is made with midi-keyboard, while the duration is indicated by selecting the note value symbol from menu. It is required to create a system where all the musical notation input operations would be reduced to the combinations of the same few actions.
A critical disadvantage of the existing input systems is that the most important musical notation symbols are inputted not directly, but via indication of their respective values. First of all, this concerns recording of the sound's pitch parameter. Instead of inputting the note heads in the required locations on the musical staff, the sounds meant by those note heads shall be inputted (with midi-keyboard or computer keyboard where values of sounds from various octaves are assigned to the keys). This way of note heads input is as good as inputting of word writing characters by indication of phonemes could have been. In the perfect system of sheet music digital typing all the symbols must be inputted directly, not via indication of their values, i.e. using just a graphical principle.
The sheet music input systems, which are wide spread now, are distinguished eclecticism, i.e. they imply a collection of mixed-mode actions, corresponding to the structure of musical notation only more or less. To make correct the sheet music input system, one has to develop it in strict correspondence with the structure and logics of notation, while the very development method must provide for such compliance. The input system shall not make an eclectic combination of principles spontaneously created for some or other group of symbols, but result from analysis of the notation structure reproducing it precisely in digital form.
At present the input systems to provide for appropriate, i.e. multifunctional and convenient input of sheet music with mobile devices do not exist. The complications in adapting the sheet music input systems to mobile devices are conditioned great deal by the general problems as described above. For instance, the multileveled interface obviously would not aid convenience of applying such system in a mobile device. Also mixed-mode actions required for input of various groups of symbols, and much more application of different devices to solve different problems of music writing obviously obstacle the way of solving the problem of appropriate sheet music input with mobile devices. Besides, this problem is an urgent one, because it is required to create a possibility to perform digital music writing in the situations as diverse as those where now it is possible to input texts. Unification of all actions, reduction of the whole array to combinations of a few simple actions is the only proper way to achieve efficiency and convenience in digital input of sheet music with mobile devices.